Understanding Sustainable Innovation adoption - A qualitative study of restaurants in Gothenburg

Abstract

Sustainable innovation adoption has received growing attention in recent years, yet its adoption within the restaurant sector remains relatively underexplored. This explorative study investigates how restaurants in the Gothenburg region perceive and evaluate sustainable innovations, using industrial dishwashers as the empirical focus. Nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with restaurant owners, managers, and head chefs to examine the decision-making logics shaping procurement processes and sustainability-related practices. Three overarching patterns emerged from the analysis. First, economic constraints constituted the most influential determinant of adoption behavior, where slim profit margins and limited liquidity reinforced short-term survival logic over long-term sustainability investments. Second, sustainable technologies were primarily considered viable when they integrated smoothly into existing operational routines and simultaneously generated observable cost reductions. Third, sustainability appeared weakly institutionalized within the restaurant sector, where adoption was shaped more by individual managerial values, supplier recommendations, and peer influence than by regulatory requirements or customer pressure. Drawing on institutional theory, diffusion of innovation theory, the resource-based view, and sustainable innovation literature, the study argues that sustainable innovation adoption cannot be explained solely through environmental awareness or technological availability. Instead, adoption behavior emerges through the interaction between resource scarcity, operational feasibility, and weak institutional pressures. The findings further suggest that the win-win logic commonly associated with sustainable innovation depends on sustainability benefits being both visible and economically measurable, conditions that are not always present within restaurant operations.